Professional Documents
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from the Honourable President Ramaphosa (“the President”) conveying to me his decision
to accept the recommendations of the Enquiry into my fitness for office to remove me from
office of the DNDPP. I have therefore ceased to be the DNDPP as from today. As I stated
for a period of 27 years. I have done so to the best of my ability and training. My
appointment was in a way unprecedented and historical because I am the first black African
woman prosecutor to have been appointed to the position of Acting NDPP and the first
career prosecutor with actual prosecutorial experience and the first prosecutor to have been
removed from my position as a DNDPP. The disappointing outcome of the Enquiry and
the decision of the President will never erase my hard-earned experience, and in the annals
of South African prosecutorial history, my true story will one day be told in better terms.
2. I pleaded with the Enquiry to make recommendations that would strengthen the
independence of the NPA to perform its supreme constitutional functions with industry and
fortitude. I am disappointed by its failure to do so. There are numerous elementary but
gross errors of judgment made by the Enquiry that a review application to the High Court
where he must answer for the murder of more than twenty (20) black suspects. I point out
the race of the suspects because I know that if the roles were reversed and a black policeman
had overseen the murder of over twenty (20) white suspects, I would be regarded as a
heroine for prosecuting such an accused. Whatever the Enquiry and the President’s
conclusions are on my decision (as a prosecutor) regarding Booysen, there are over twenty
families in Cato Manor whose children were gunned down in police raids that must still be
explained to the public through our court system. The blood of those killed in these raids
will continue to seek justice until Booysen takes the stand to explain his role. As matters
Court in October 2019 after his attempts to have the charges withdrawn were dismissed by
3. Another elementary issue missed by the Enquiry is that the Supreme Court of Appeal
(“SCA”) found nothing wrong with my role in the prosecution of Booysen. The Enquiry
is not a Court of Law and may not issue a recommendation that contravenes a factual
finding of a Court of Law. That much is clear from sections 165(3), (4) and (5) of the
Constitution. The Enquiry failed to grasp basic constitutional principles governing its
work- more particularly that it is not entitled to overturn the findings of a Court. The
President also failed to respect the order of the SCA in so far as he accepted that I acted
incompetently when I authorised the charging of Booysen. The court order of the SCA is
Constitutional Court. The Enquiry, as well as the President, may not interfere with the
undermine the Judiciary and places a strain on the separation of powers principle.
4. The Enquiry and the President are wrong to impugn my conduct in relation to the cases of
Mdluli and the Spy Tapes. A dispassionate and rigorous review of the evidence will
disclose that the SCA was correct when it found (as it did) nothing wrong with my
involvement in those matters: the prosecutorial decision involving Mdluli was taken before
I was appointed as ANDPP and the glaring evidence on the Spy Tapes, as in all cases, is
the affidavit of Advocate Paul Kennedy SC for the NPA which made it clear what my role
was in that case. It is wrong to hold me incompetent for the work of the NPA which was
5. I have raised these preliminary legal points to highlight my intention to clear my name and
conveyed to me that I am disqualified from serving my country in any position in the Public
Service. I can assure the President that I will not be stripped, by executive stealth and fiat,
of my rights routinely accorded to all citizens to serve this great country in the position of
my calling. The President’s decision to declare me a prohibited public servant will not
power, alternatively a failure to properly exercise that power. I stand by my evidence given
to the Enquiry and intend to ensure that my actions were all done to advance prosecutorial
6. The Enquiry’s findings have been most unfair to me. I do not accept them as a final
statement on my life and from today, I will dedicate a significant portion of my remaining
life to showing all the black women of South Africa with ambition to became the best in
prayed for my internal peace and received the assurance of God’s grace on this challenging
journey. It is painful and deeply troubling but I have felt the loving assurance of divine
providence.
7. I have consulted with my lawyers, (to whom I am deeply grateful), and have the assurance
of their service in taking the matter forward. For now, and upon the resumption of the sixth
Parliament, the decision of the President must receive the attention of the Legislature, who
have the last word on my fate. I look forward to engaging Parliament when the matter of
my removal from office is debated – to share with those custodians of our prosecutorial
independence, my experience. In that engagement, I hope that they will see that the
Enquiry and the President has been grossly unfair in the manner in which they have handled
8. I thank many South Africans and prosecutors who have supported the work of the NPA
and urge that nothing is spared to give the NPA the full support it needs to discharge its
of threat of disciplinary action. To those prosecutors that I worked with, remain strong and
courageous, fearing nothing but revering the Constitution. You remain the custodians of
26 April 2019